‘We Deserved More Than A Point’

The coach of Uganda, Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic said his side deserved more than a point after the Cranes held the Black Stars to a one-all game in their Orange Africa Cup Of Nations qualifier at the Baba Yara Stadium on Saturday. Uganda relinquished a first half lead by Tony Mawejje to draw the Black Stars who got their equaliser from the spot converted by Andre Ayew.

The Serbian told Cafonline.com in a post-match interview that Uganda came into the match with high motivation having not played for 37-years at the Africa Cup of Nations.

“The players have really proven themselves and I give all the credit to them. We knew the importance of the game and had to come to West Africa for four days to prepare and be ready for this game. “I respect the Ghana team but today it will have been deserving of us to win judging from the commitment and hard work of the players.”

Micho explained that “we planned for this game knowing the Ghanaian players deep inside out. Ghana had two chances in the first half and our goalkeeper was in top form.

“Then we scored the goal and then we needed in the second half to keep going. Then a very suspicious decision by the referee to award Ghana the penalty changed things because there was no challenge but I am used to this because I have been coming to Ghana since 1996 and it is always like this”.

On his approach to the match that saw the Cranes dominate, Micho said “when you are playing against a good team, you need to have a balance approach. You cannot just pack the bus and just defend. You need to defend and give a fast counter attack. We have been handicapped in the absence of some two or three players and it was important to strategize well”.

Concerning the team’s journey ahead, he said: “this point will be a good injection of confidence of all Ugandans back home. I strongly believe this is a good step for us because we are underdogs in this group and as such, getting a point in the home of the absolute favourite is a boost of moral. It will motivate us to prepare more and work harder for the matches ahead.

“If the penalty was not awarded to Ghana and we were heading home with all three points, I will speak differently but even with this, we need to be happy because we played well against a team that is very good on the ball, with an incredible attacking team. We have a long way to go but with this start, the spirit and motivation of the boys, we can build on something to make Ugandans happy after 37-years.”

The Cranes would next play Guinea on Friday in Kampala whilst Ghana travel to Lome to face neighbours, Togo.

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